“Let’s go once I submit my sample chapters. That’s how we’ll celebrate.”
“You deserve to celebrate. It’s got to be hard to concentrate when we’re all enjoying ourselves. Are you still feeling good about your story?”
“I like it,” she said.
Sloane peered at her more closely. “Just... not a lot?”
“This book is a little more... meaningful than the last one.”
“And the last one would be considered...”
“Playful.” She gave her friend a worried look. “I’m afraid readers won’t gravitate quite as well to ‘meaningful.’”
Sloane looped her arm through Charlotte’s while Julian and Lilly walked back holding gigantic lemons filled with sorbet. “Sometimes those are the books that sell the best.”
“I hope you’re right—because chances are I’ll have only one shot at this. If my sales numbers are bad—”
“They won’t be bad,” Sloane broke in. “Your first book killed it.”
That logic didn’t help. The performance of her first book is what had created such high expectations. “I’m not nearly as convinced.”
“Stop it. I believe in you.”
Bolstered by her friend’s support, Charlotte did what she could to cast off the nagging worry. But then she met Julian’s gaze and noticed how quickly he adjusted the camera strap that didn’t need adjusting. He’d barely spoken to her since their kiss and had made himself scarce whenever she was available. His sudden withdrawal made her regret her drunken actions last week even though, especially late at night, she relived the moment he pulled her into his arms.
Club music thumped faintly and sunscreen and salt cut through the heat as Sloane watched Lilly swim in the sea from under the shade of a wide-brimmed beach hat while sitting on an orange lounger provided by One Fire Beach Club. She’d been surprised by how much she was enjoying Charlotte’s half sister. Because both Charlotte and Julian had to work in the mornings, she was the only one available to entertain Lilly—something she’d thought would be onerous.
But she’d been pleasantly surprised. They’d been having a lot of fun.
Yesterday, she’d purchased some makeup for Lilly and wasteaching her how to apply it. To Sabrina’s credit, Lilly had been told she had to wait until she was thirteen to wear cosmetics, but Sloane figured the girl was close enough now. She’d decided to buy her a few things she could experiment with while they were waiting for Charlotte to join them each day.
Lilly came out of the waves and flung her hair back, completely unaware of the boy, maybe a year or two older, who’d taken an interest in her. Sloane smiled to herself as she watched his eyes follow Lilly.
“How’s the water?”
Lilly stretched out beside her and used one arm to cover her eyes to avoid the glare of the sun. “Perfect. Aren’t you going to get in?”
“I might—in a bit. I just ordered us a couple of sodas.”
After plopping her own beach hat on her head, Lilly sat up and retrieved the digital reader from the basket that held what they’d brought with them. She’d asked to readPlaying for Keeps, but Charlotte had insisted she wasn’t old enough, so Sloane had steered her toward YA, and nowThrone of Glasshad her glued to the screen.
“What’s happening in your book?” she asked.
“Oh, my gosh!” Lilly exclaimed. “It’s gettingsogood. I don’t know how you say the girl’s name, but she’s in big trouble. The assassins and warriors are dying, and she doesn’t even know why!”
“Do you?”
“No. Maybe we will both find out today.” She lowered the brim of her hat to provide more shade as she started to read, but when their drinks arrived, Sloane had the chance to interrupt.
“If you had your choice, would you like to go back and live with Steve at the farm?” she asked. “And Old Blue?”
Lilly pulled her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment before answering. “Has Steve invited me?”
“I don’t know,” she lied, just in case Charlotte might takeexception to her providing this information. “Would you want to go if he did?”
A hint of suspicion entered her eyes. “Is that what Charlotte would like me to do—so she can go back to Cliff or whatever?”
Sloane didn’t want her to feel they were trying to get rid of her. That wasn’t why she’d asked. She simply wanted to know how Lilly felt. “She hasn’t said. You were just so excited about that picture Steve sent—and to hear from him again. It made me wonder if you’d like to go back and be with him and Old Blue, because if that’s the case, I could push for it. That’s all.”
